The possibility of working at Barça to recover money from an alleged scam

BarcelonaTwo of the plaintiffs for aggravated fraud against Joan Laporta and Core Store – a company linked to CSSB Limited, the largest shareholder of CF Reus Deportiu when it disappeared due to financial problems – state in one of their complaints that an intermediary for various loan operations who signed in 2016 for a total of 400,000 euros explained to them that in order to recover the money there was the possibility of entering to work at Barça. "Ms. [Sandra] Solé proposed to the complainants the application for a job at FC Barcelona as a way of recovering the invested money, since it was 'the bargaining chip' that they were using with other investors," states the written complaint, to which ARA has had access.

In the following paragraph of the complaint there is an attached news item about the signing for the defunct Barça TV of Toni Cruz, former member of La Trinca and creator of programs such as Operation Triumph and Martian Chronicles, as an external director, the same position he currently holds at Barça Studios. This incorporation into the club took place in July 2022, under Joan Laporta's mandate. It is also stated that Fernando Oliveira, another intermediary in the investment transactions in Core Store and CSSB Limited, "indicated to the complainants that members of the comedy and entertainment group La Trinca were participating in the investment and that they would produce a program in Beijing, style Big Brother, with the footballers, an aspect that further reinforced the success and the large profits [that the investment was supposed to entail] given the Chinese population's fondness for this type of programs."

The television program as a lure to make an investment would have also been used with a third brother from the same family who invested $50,000 in the subscription of shares of CSSB Limited in 2016, as stated in another complaint, to which ARA has also had access, which was filed against Laporta and the same companies for aggravated fraud. "Ms. Solé resumed conversations with the complainant in order to persuade him to also participate, convincing him - I quote verbatim - that a television program was going to be obtained to promote the BIT team in China [a university football club also controlled by CSSB Limited] and that, although the participation of investors had already been closed, she could get him to come in with 50,000 euros in investing with CSSB Limited."

Furthermore, as this newspaper has been able to confirm, another complainant for aggravated fraud against Laporta, CSSB Limited and Core Store, The winner of a Primitiva prize who invested a total of 4.7 million euros in these companies, the supposed benefits of these investments were also allegedly sold to him under the argument that someone from La Trinca had already invested. In addition to being an external director of Barça Studios, Toni Cruz has been a director and joint and several attorney of Barça Produccions since 2024. ARA has contacted official sources at Barça, who have denied that Cruz was hired by the club to settle debts from these investments. "Toni Cruz has an impressive professional career in the audiovisual world," they argued. ARA has not received a response from the former member of La Trinca.

This Wednesday at 8 p.m., the documentary will premiere at the Texas Cinemas. Laportagate, directed by journalist Andreu Rauet, who will provide new information Regarding the allegations of aggravated fraud related to Core Store, CSSB Limited and LaportaIn four of them, the current president of Barça appears as a defendant, and in a fifth, as a witness.

The three lawsuits filed by the three brothers

In September 2016, each of the two sisters signed a participating loan agreement with Core Store for €100,000, ending in five years and carrying an annual interest rate of 6%. The agreement was supposedly intended to help CF Reus Deportiu secure promotion to the First Division. They also signed a commitment agreement with CSSB Limited, which involved an investment of $100,000 per person in the company's shares. Initially, the agreement was to be used for the project to create a kind of Masia (a kind of Masia) in China, with the aim of exchanging players with Reus.

Furthermore, the intermediaries convinced a third brother from the same family to invest $50,000 in CSSB Limited shares in October 2016, under another commitment agreement. The three siblings did not receive the promised returns from these transactions, nor were their invested capital returned. Because of this, both sisters filed a complaint for aggravated fraud in December 2022 against Laporta; the general manager of Barça during the lawyer's first term, Joan Oliver; the intermediaries of the investment transactions; and the company Core Store. The complaint ended with an out-of-court settlement between the parties.

However, last October, the two sisters filed a new complaint, pending admissibility by Barcelona's 18th Investigating Court, because the out-of-court agreement included the non-payments by Core Store, but not those by CSSB Limited. Meanwhile, the third brother filed a complaint for aggravated fraud against CSSB Limited, Joan Laporta, Joan Oliver, and one of the intermediaries in July 2024, which has been admitted for processing by Barcelona's 21st Investigating Court.

What are CSSB Limited and Core Store?

Core Store was founded in 2011 by Laporta and Oliver to provide consulting services. Laporta served as a joint administrator and shareholder between 2011 and 2019. Oliver remains a shareholder today. Until 2019, the company's headquarters were at 469 Avinguda Diagonal, Barcelona, where the Laporta & Arbós law firm is located. Shortly after Core Store, CSSB Limited was born., a Hong Kong-based company linked to the former that managed sports clubs. In 2014, it acquired the CF Reus Deportiu, controlled by Oliver, and eventually held a 57% stake in the entity before it disappeared in 2020 due to financial difficulties. CSSB Limited also owned BIT FC (Beijing Institute of Technology Football Club), a modest Chinese university football club.